President Donald Trump warned Texas against resisting new data centers, calling the state’s position a “mistake” and arguing that the fast-growing industry could become bigger than oil.
“I saw Texas the other day sort of is against data centers,” Trump said in an interview with Punchbowl News released Friday. “I think it’s a mistake. And I’m not taking positions, I just think it’s a mistake, because there are other communities that want it. When a community wants it, it means a lot of money is going to come into that community.”
Trump later said data centers are “tremendously important for the economics.”
“For Texas to say no to data centers is a mistake in the sense that it could be bigger than oil,” Trump said.
Billions in investment at stake
Google announced a $40 billion Texas investment on November 14, 2025, including three new data center campuses, energy initiatives and workforce training. The commitment represents Google’s largest investment in any state and is expected to create thousands of jobs.
Nationally, the industry contributed $926.9 billion to U.S. gross domestic product, supported 5.5 million jobs and generated $204.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue in 2024, according to a May 2026 PwC study commissioned by the Data Center Coalition.
Trump argued that communities rejecting data centers risk losing future investment to places willing to accept the projects.
The President did not name Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas), but the warning came four days after Abbott ordered a pause on pending requests to connect data center projects to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power grid.
The Dallas Express previously reported that Abbott had also called for prohibiting AI data centers in rural neighborhoods unless developers bring their own money, power and water and protect nearby residents.
Abbott responds, defends audit
Andrew Mahaleris, an Abbott spokesperson, responded directly to Trump’s remarks Friday. Mahaleris said fewer than 10% of data centers had answered state requests for information about their power and water use, The Texas Tribune reported.
“This unprecedented growth could endanger the reliability and stability of the Texas electric grid,” Mahaleris said. “Simply put, Texans must come first.”
On Monday, Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to audit every data center moving through the grid operator’s interconnection process before allowing a project to advance.
The action does not create a statewide ban on local permits or construction. It pauses pending ERCOT interconnection requests until each project completes the audit.
ERCOT is considering more than 474 gigawatts of connection requests, more than five times the grid’s record peak demand. Data centers account for approximately 90% of the new requests, according to the governor’s office.
Trump and Abbott share a ratepayer goal
Trump’s criticism does not place him opposite Abbott on every part of data center policy. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Trump expanded the Ratepayer Protection Pledge in July to include more than 200 participating organizations covering roughly 80% of the electricity delivered to American homes and businesses.
The voluntary pledge calls on data center developers, technology companies and utilities to fund the new generation and grid infrastructure their facilities require instead of shifting those costs to households and small businesses.
Abbott likewise directed Texas regulators in June to require data centers to fully fund the electric infrastructure needed for their operations. Both policies seek continued data center growth without forcing ordinary ratepayers to absorb the cost.
The White House has paired those ratepayer protections with a push for faster data center development. The administration says pledge participants must pay for new power generation and delivery infrastructure, while Trump argued Friday that communities rejecting the projects risk losing investment, jobs and computing capacity to places willing to welcome them.